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  • Thousands attend Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem against a backdrop of war

    Thousands attend Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem against a backdrop of war

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    Thousands of Christian faithful attended Palm Sunday celebrations at Jerusalem’s sacred Mount of Olives, marking the first day of Holy Week as conflict surges across the region.

    What You Need To Know

    • Thousands of Christian faithful attended Palm Sunday celebrations at Jerusalem’s sacred Mount of Olives on the first day of Holy Week
    • Pilgrims were seen waving branches and fronds in the air. The Bible says such items were placed before Jesus’ feet during his entrance into Jerusalem where he was greeted by cheering crowds
    • Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre also held a service on Sunday
    • The annual celebration comes as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in Gaza. The conflict appeared to have little effect on the procession which swelled to a similar size as last year


    Pilgrims waved branches and fronds in the air, items that were placed before Jesus’ feet as he was greeted by cheering crowds during his entrance into Jerusalem, according to the Bible. Earlier Sunday, Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre — revered as the site of Jesus’s crucifixion — also held a service.

    The annual celebration came as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in Gaza. However, the conflict appeared to have had little effect on the procession, which swelled to a similar size as last year.

    “Although there is war, in my impression I don’t feel any kind of tension,” said David Manini, a pilgrim from Italy.

    The celebration marks the beginning of the most somber week in the Christian calendar, which marks Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter.

    “I’m here because I love Jesus Christ,” said Jennifer Weedon, who traveled form the United States for the occasion.

    Since the war erupted, Israel has seen a huge downturn in tourism. The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants from Gaza invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. Israel has responded with an air and ground war that has left more than 32,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

    One of the placards held by a pilgrim read, “Save us lord. The Church of Saint Porphyrius and Holy Family Church, Gaza.”

    In late October, Palestinian health officials said that an Israeli strike hit St. Porphyrios, a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing 18 people.

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    Associated Press

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  • Thousands attend Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem against a backdrop of war

    Thousands attend Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem against a backdrop of war

    [ad_1]

    Thousands of Christian faithful attended Palm Sunday celebrations at Jerusalem’s sacred Mount of Olives, marking the first day of Holy Week as conflict surges across the region.

    What You Need To Know

    • Thousands of Christian faithful attended Palm Sunday celebrations at Jerusalem’s sacred Mount of Olives on the first day of Holy Week
    • Pilgrims were seen waving branches and fronds in the air. The Bible says such items were placed before Jesus’ feet during his entrance into Jerusalem where he was greeted by cheering crowds
    • Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre also held a service on Sunday
    • The annual celebration comes as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in Gaza. The conflict appeared to have little effect on the procession which swelled to a similar size as last year


    Pilgrims waved branches and fronds in the air, items that were placed before Jesus’ feet as he was greeted by cheering crowds during his entrance into Jerusalem, according to the Bible. Earlier Sunday, Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre — revered as the site of Jesus’s crucifixion — also held a service.

    The annual celebration came as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in Gaza. However, the conflict appeared to have had little effect on the procession, which swelled to a similar size as last year.

    “Although there is war, in my impression I don’t feel any kind of tension,” said David Manini, a pilgrim from Italy.

    The celebration marks the beginning of the most somber week in the Christian calendar, which marks Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter.

    “I’m here because I love Jesus Christ,” said Jennifer Weedon, who traveled form the United States for the occasion.

    Since the war erupted, Israel has seen a huge downturn in tourism. The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants from Gaza invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. Israel has responded with an air and ground war that has left more than 32,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

    One of the placards held by a pilgrim read, “Save us lord. The Church of Saint Porphyrius and Holy Family Church, Gaza.”

    In late October, Palestinian health officials said that an Israeli strike hit St. Porphyrios, a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing 18 people.

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    Associated Press

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  • Senate approves House-passed $1.2T funding bill

    Senate approves House-passed $1.2T funding bill

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    The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills in the early morning hours Saturday, a long overdue action nearly six months into the budget year that will push any threats of a government shutdown to the fall. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills to fund the government through September in the early morning hours Saturday

    • The bill now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law

    • It came after funding had expired for the agencies at midnight, but the White House sent out a notice shortly after the deadline announcing the Office of Management and Budget had ceased shutdown preparations because there was a high degree of confidence that Congress would pass the legislation and the president would sign it on Saturday

    • The House had approved the package of spending bills earlier in the day, but more House Republicans voted against the measure than for it, reflecting anger among conservatives over the package and the speed with which it was brought to a vote


    The vote was 74-24. It came after funding had expired for the agencies at midnight, but the White House sent out a notice shortly after the deadline announcing the Office of Management and Budget had ceased shutdown preparations because there was a high degree of confidence that Congress would pass the legislation and the president would sign it on Saturday.

    “Because obligations of federal funds are incurred and tracked on a daily basis, agencies will not shut down and may continue their normal operations,” the White House statement said.

    Prospects for a short-term government shutdown had appeared to grow Friday evening after Republicans and Democrats battled over proposed amendments to the bill. Any successful amendments to the bill would have sent the legislation back to the House, which had already left town for a two-week recess.

    But shortly before midnight Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a breakthrough.

    “It’s been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government,” Schumer said. “It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it.”

    While Congress has already approved money for Veterans Affairs, Interior, Agriculture and other agencies, the bill approved this week is much larger, providing funding for the Defense, Homeland Security and State departments and other aspects of general government.

    The House passed the bill Friday morning by a vote of 286-134, narrowly gaining the two-thirds majority needed for approval. More than 70% of the money would go to defense.

    The vote tally in the House reflected anger among Republicans over the content of the package and the speed with which it was brought to a vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson brought the measure to the floor even though a majority of Republicans ended up voting against it. He said afterward that the bill “represents the best achievable outcome in a divided government.”

    In sign of the conservative frustration, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., initiated an effort to oust Johnson as the House began the vote but held off on further action until the House returns in two weeks. It’s the same tool that was used last year to remove the last Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California.

    The vote breakdown showed 101 Republicans voting for the bill and 112 voting against it. Meanwhile, 185 Democrats voted for the bill and 22 against.

    Rep. Kay Granger, the Republican chair of the House Appropriations Committee that helped draft the package, stepped down from that role after the vote. She said she would stay on the committee to provide advice and lead as a teacher for colleagues when needed.

    Johnson broke up this fiscal year’s spending bills into two parts as House Republicans revolted against what has become an annual practice of asking them to vote for one massive, complex bill called an omnibus with little time to review it or face a shutdown. Johnson viewed that as a breakthrough, saying the two-part process was “an important step in breaking the omnibus muscle memory.”

    Still, the latest package was clearly unpopular with most Republicans, who viewed it as containing too few of their policy priorities and as spending too much.

    “The bottom line is that this is a complete and utter surrender,” said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo.

    It took lawmakers six months into the current fiscal year to get near the finish line on government funding, the process slowed by conservatives who pushed for more policy mandates and steeper spending cuts than a Democratic-led Senate or White House would consider. The impasse required several short-term, stopgap spending bills to keep agencies funded.

    The first package of full-year spending bills, which funded the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and the Interior, among others, cleared Congress two weeks ago with just hours to spare before funding expired for those agencies.

    When combining the two packages, discretionary spending for the budget year will come to about $1.66 trillion. That does not include programs such as Social Security and Medicare, or financing the country’s rising debt.

    To win over support from Republicans, Johnson touted some of the spending increases secured for about 8,000 more detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country. That’s about a 24% increase from current levels. Also, GOP leadership highlighted more money to hire about 2,000 Border Patrol agents.

    Democrats, meanwhile, are boasting of a $1 billion increase for Head Start programs and new child care centers for military families. They also played up a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s research.

    “Make no mistake, we had to work under very difficult top-line numbers and fight off literally hundreds of extreme Republican poison pills from the House, not to mention some unthinkable cuts,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

    Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on that committee, appealed to her GOP colleagues by stating that the bill’s spending on non-defense programs actually decreases even before accounting for inflation. She called the package “conservative” and “carefully drafted.”

    “These bills are not big spending bills that are wildly out of scope,” Collins said.

    The spending package largely tracks with an agreement that then-Speaker McCarthy worked out with the White House in May 2023, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.

    Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers that last year’s agreement, which became the Fiscal Responsibility Act, will save the federal government about $1 trillion over the coming decade.

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    Associated Press

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  • Study: With organic fields next door, conventional farms dial up pesticide use

    Study: With organic fields next door, conventional farms dial up pesticide use

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    Champions of organic farming have long portrayed it as friendlier to humans and the earth. But a new study in a California county found a surprising effect as their acreage grew: Nearby conventional farms applied more pesticides, likely to stay on top of an increased insect threat to their crops, the researchers said.

    What You Need To Know

    • Champions of organic farming have long portrayed it as friendlier to humans and the earth. But a new study in a California county found a surprising effect as their acreage grew — their conventional neighbors were using more pesticides than before
    • The researchers, whose work appears in this week’s journal Science, say the conventional farmers were likely trying to stay on top of an increased insect threat to their crops. That may be due to spillover of both beneficial insects and pests from organic fields, which sometimes rely on good bugs to eat the bad ones
    • The researchers suggest that clustering organic farms together, rather than scattering them amid conventional fields, could improve this phenomenon

    Ashley Larsen, lead author of the study in this week’s journal Science, said understanding what’s happening could be important to keeping organic and conventional farmers from hurting each other’s operations.

    “We expect an increase in organic in the future. How do we make sure this is not causing unintended harm?” asked Larsen, an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

    By contrast, the researchers found that when organic farms were surrounded by other organic fields, their pesticide use dropped, which the team thinks may be due to their shared reliance on bugs that are natural enemies of agricultural pests. Organic farms are allowed to use certain approved pesticides, but often turn first to “good bugs” that prey on the pests. “It seems that spatially clustering or concentrating organic fields could provide that benefit or that solution,” Larsen said.

    The researchers analyzed 14,000 fields in California’s Kern County over a seven-year period.

    Organic farm acreage has been trending upward since 2000, though it still accounts for less than 1% of all farmland, according to the USDA. As that change occurs, Larsen and her team say keeping organic and conventional farms sufficiently separate could benefit both.

    But many farmers, both conventional and organic, balk at the idea of policies that might restrict where different methods can be used. And some outside researchers said more study was needed before contemplating policy recommendations. They noted that the study didn’t measure the kind or number of insects on the different farms, meaning the increased pesticide use may have been just a precaution.

    Still, the “impressive data set” makes the study useful in generating worthwhile questions about farming practices and pesticides, said Christian Krupke, who studies insects as a professor of entomology at Purdue University and was not involved in the study. The overall number of insects is going down, a phenomenon some scientists have called the “insect apocalypse,” but pesticide use is not decreasing, he said.

    Krupke said the research shows how conventional farmers treat nearby organic operations “as this focal point of potential outbreaks.”

    David Haviland, an entomologist with the University of California also not involved with the study, agreed. He described the fight in Kern County to control the glassy-winged sharpshooter, which infests citrus orchards and can introduce devastating plant diseases into grapes, almonds and some other crops. Haviland said that regional maps clearly showcase organic farms as “these big, incredible hot spots where there’s massive numbers of this pest.” Conventional growers next door have to increase their pesticide use as a result, he said.

    Yichao Rui, an agroecologist at Purdue, said that kind of response by farmers isn’t always due to an actual increase in pests; sometimes, it’s just for “peace of mind.” And Katy Rogers, who manages an organic farm outside Indianapolis, said that in many cases it’s a misconception that organic farmers are harboring massive pest infestations.

    “We’re not fostering populations of detrimental insects on most organic farms, on a well-managed farm,” she said. “We are simply battling them with other tools first. Because the bad bugs would still destroy my crop.”

    Rui said investigating the environmental consequences of organic farming is a worthy goal, and both organic and conventional farms have room for improvement. But he thinks looking only at pesticide use doesn’t account for factors like human health, air and water quality and ecosystem diversity that can be affected by different farming methods.

    “We need to have a holistic … assessment of the benefits and tradeoffs of all of these agricultural practices,” he said.

    Brad Wetli, an Indiana farmer who farms grain conventionally, said that he hasn’t noticed any changes in his pest control situation since his neighbor switched to organic four years ago. He thinks that farmers may be quicker to apply more pesticides to high-value crops like the fruits, vegetables and nuts in California, whereas the row crops he grows like corn and beans aren’t worth as much per acre, so it would take a bigger change in the number of insects he saw on his farm before reaching for more spray.

    Wetli was more concerned with soil management. He’s careful to plant cover crops and has worked to reduce tilling, which can cause soil erosion and contaminate waterways, and said organic farming sometimes still involves tilling.

    Meanwhile, organic farmers expressed concern that the study addresses the effects of organic farms on conventional ones but not the other way around. For example, they can lose their certification for up to three years if a prohibited material is applied on their fields, even if by accident, according to the USDA.

    Walter Goldstein, a corn breeder in Wisconsin who produces both organic and non-organic seed, grew up working on an organic farm amid conventional ones and still remembers pesticide drift.

    “There’s just these really weird smells,” he said. “Chemical smells. They smell like factory stuff.”

    Jay Shipman, who owns an organic farm in Kern County near another large organic farm, said that he likes farming next to someone with similar practices “not just because it’s economics,” he said, but because “this is how I eat. This is how I want my family eating.” He added, however, that he grew up in conventional agriculture and understands that trying to convince farmers they should do something differently can be “tough to change, tough to swallow.”

    Rogers, the Indianapolis organic farm manager, spent much of her life in conventional agriculture and says she was taught that organic farmers were “enemies.” She’s now deeply committed to a small church-run organic and regenerative farm with vegetables, beehives and hay.

    Rogers said she can see benefits from clustering organic farms together, but thinks dividing organic and conventional farmers as the researchers suggested could be “even more polarizing.”

    “At the deepest level, we’re all stewarding land and we all actually want to contribute,” she said.

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    Associated Press

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  • White House touts record Obamacare enrollment ahead of anniversary

    White House touts record Obamacare enrollment ahead of anniversary

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    President Joe Biden’s White House is touting record enrollment in the Affordable Care Act ahead of its 14th anniversary on Saturday as his reelection team looks to take the issue out on the campaign trail. 

    What You Need To Know

    • The Affordable Care Act, the sweeping health care overhaul also known as Obamacare, prepares to mark 14 years since then-President Barack Obama signed it into law in 2010
    • The White House is touting a record 21.4 million people enrolled in health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces during the 2024 open enrollment period
    • In the decade since the bill’s implementation in 2014, the White House noted a total of 45 million are enrolled in marketplace over Medicaid expansion coverage under the ACA
    • Biden’s reelection campaign is hoping the numbers give the incumbent president’s quest for another four years in the Oval Office a boost in the face of renewed GOP threats to repeal the health care law

    On a call with reporters ahead of the announcement, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra noted a record 21.4 million people enrolled in health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces during the 2024 open enrollment period.

    Five million of those enrollees, he said, were new to the marketplace, a 41% increase from 2023. 

    “21.4 million people that’s almost an 80% increase from the end of the previous administration’s term with the Affordable Care Act,” Becerra said. 

    The 21.4 million sign-ups for 2024 marks a more than 30% increase from 2023, when 16.4 million people enrolled, according to data from the White House. The annual enrollment figure, the data shows, increased more than 78% from 12 million in 2021 when Biden first took office to 21.4 million this year.

    The White House pointed to the expansion of tax credits intended to increase the affordability of marketplace coverage included in two of Biden’s signature pieces of legislation – the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act – as aiding in the increase. 

    It comes as the sweeping health care overhaul, colloquially known as Obamacare, prepares to mark 14 years since then-President Barack Obama signed it into law in 2010. 

    “When I ran for president in 2020, I promised the American people that I would protect the Affordable Care Act from partisan attacks and build on it,” Biden said in a statement on Friday marking the bill’s anniversary. “That’s exactly what I’ve done: getting more people affordable health insurance, lowering prescription drug prices, and giving families more breathing room.”

    “Now more Americans have affordable health insurance than ever before, premiums are down, and enrollment is at an all-time high,” the statement continued. “We took on Big Pharma – and won, capping insulin at just $35 per month and out-of-pocket prescription costs at $2,000 per year for seniors.”

    In the decade since the bill’s implementation in 2014, the White House noted a total of 45 million are enrolled in marketplace over Medicaid expansion coverage under the ACA. About 12.6 million people were enrolled in 2014, according to White House data. 

    The overall rate of Americans uninsured in health coverage, according to the most recent federal survey, has dropped 16% from 2010 to 2023. Florida, for instance, saw its uninsured rate fall from 20% in 2013 to 11.2% in 2022. California recorded a drop of 17.2% in 2013 to 6.5% in 2022. Wisconsin dipped 9.1% in 2013 to 5.2% in 2022. 

    Biden’s reelection campaign is hoping the numbers give the incumbent president’s quest for another four years in the Oval Office a boost in the face of renewed GOP threats to repeal the health care law.

    Over the next few days, Biden’s team plans to host more than 20 events to mark the bill’s anniversary in eight battleground states. The campaign also plans to release ads and social media content surrounding the health care act. 

    On Saturday, the bill’s official anniversary, the president will bring in his former boss, Obama, and former Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a call with supporters and volunteers. 

    The campaign’s emphasis on the ACA builds on his team’s efforts to shine a light on the health care bill as Trump toys with a renewed push to repeal it. 

    “There are extremists out there who say they will destroy the ACA. They will take health care and the peace of mind that comes with it away from millions of Americans,” Becerra said on Thursday’s call. “Well, that’s what they’re saying. But we won’t let that happen.”

    Republicans’ crusade against the Obamacare largely quieted in the years after three GOP senators voted against repealing it during the Trump administration in 2017. But the former president reawakened the fight last year when he warned the legislation could be on the chopping block again should he win back the White House in 2024. 

    “The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media site Truth Social. 

    That comment sparked a rapid response from the Biden campaign, which sent a flurry of emails warning about the impacts of the bill being repealed and calling on Pelosi to host a press call on the topic with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. 

    Amid the attention on his comment, Trump clarified that he doesn’t want to “terminate” the law, but wants to “replace” the landmark health care legislation.

    “I don’t want to terminate Obamacare, I want to REPLACE IT with MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE. Obamacare Sucks!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. While a Trump-backed repeal passed the House during his sole White House term in 2017, the effort failed in the Senate when three Republican lawmakers sank it. He has not offered a replacement plan.

    “Trump wants to take us back to a time when health insurance companies could deny coverage to Americans with heart disease or diabetes or asthma. When you couldn’t leave a dead-end job because you couldn’t risk losing your health insurance. When a 22-year-old kid could be kicked off his parents’ plan because he graduated from college. When insurance companies could cut people off halfway through chemo because they’d reached the limit of what they were willing to pay,” Biden said in a statement marking the ACA’s anniversary. “I won’t let that happen.”

    Biden’s team on Friday released a digital ad arguing “45 million Americans could lose their health insurance” should Trump win the White House again. The ad, the campaign said, is set to run on digital platforms such as Meta and YouTube in English and Spanish in battleground states. 

    In December, Biden called in Obama to record a video message promoting the ACA, it still a “BFD” – a tagline Biden even gave a shoutout in his State of the Union address earlier this month. 

    Folks Obamacare, known as the Affordable Care Act is still a very big deal,” he said in the House chamber. 

    And speaking in New Hampshire earlier this month on the heels of his State of the Union address, the president sought to draw a contrast between himself and the GOP on health care. 

    “Over 100 million Americans can no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition,” Biden said. “But my predecessor and many Republicans want to take that away – take that protection away by repealing the Affordable Care Act. I’m not gonna let that happen.”

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    Maddie Gannon

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  • Justice Department sues Apple, alleging illegal monopoly over smartphones

    Justice Department sues Apple, alleging illegal monopoly over smartphones

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    The Justice Department and 16 state and district attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple on Thursday, accusing the tech giant of creating an illegal monopoly over smartphones in the United States.

    The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that the company’s so-called “walled garden” ecosystem — which allows Apple to maintain total control over its hardware and software — creates a monopoly by stifling competition. It accuses the company of using control over the iPhone to “engage in a broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct.”

    “Each step in Apple’s course of conduct built and reinforced the moat around its smartphone monopoly,” the complaint reads, charging that the company uses “a series of shapeshifting rules and restrictions in its App Store guidelines and developer agreements that would allow Apple to extract higher fees, thwart innovation, offer a less secure or degraded user experience, and throttle competitive alternatives.”

    “We allege that Apple has maintained monopoly power in the smartphone market, not simply by staying ahead of the competition on the merits, but by violating federal antitrust law,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly.”

    In a statement, the company said it disagrees with the claims made in the lawsuit and vowed to “vigorously” fight it.

    “This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets,” the company’s statement reads. “We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it.”

    States joining the Justice Department’s lawsuit include New York, California, Maine and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.

    This is a developing story. Check back later for further updates.

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    Justin Tasolides

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  • Planned Parenthood endorses five Senate candidates

    Planned Parenthood endorses five Senate candidates

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    The political arm of the reproductive rights group Planned Parenthood on Wednesday announced its endorsement of five House Democrats looking to secure seats in the upper chamber of Congress in November’s election. 

    In a press release, Planned Parenthood Action Fund announced it is backing 2024 U.S. Senate candidates Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Colin Allred, D-Texas, Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.,  Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. 

    What You Need To Know

    • The political arm of the reproductive rights group Planned Parenthood on Wednesday announced its endorsement of five House Democrats looking to secure seats in the upper chamber in November’s election 
    • Planned Parenthood Action Fund is backing 2024 Senate candidates Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Colin Allred, D-Texas, Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.,  Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. 
    • The group has already endorsed Democratic incumbents Sens. Jon Tester, Jacky Rosen, Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin in the battleground states of Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin as well as President Joe Biden for another four years in the White House
    • Democratic candidates across the country have sought to hone in on the issue of abortion access and reproductive rights following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022

    In deep-blue California, Schiff is looking to defeat a challenge from former Los Angeles Dodgers player Republican Steve Garvey to fill the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat. He beat out two other House Democrats in the primary contest earlier this month to advance to November’s general race. 

    In Texas, Allred, a civil rights lawyer and former NFL player, is seeking to oust Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. 

    In Delaware and battleground Michigan, Blunt Rochester and Slotkin are hoping to fill the seats of retiring Democratic Sens. Tom Carper and Debbie Stabenow, respectively.

    Meanwhile, in one of the west’s biggest swing states, Gallego is aiming to defeat Republican Kari Lake to take over for Democratic-turned-Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema announced earlier this month that she would not seek reelection after leaving the Democratic party to become an independent following the 2022 midterms. Lake narrowly lost her race for governor of Arizona to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in 2022. 

    “We don’t have time to waste while our freedom to control our own bodies hangs in the balance,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund said in a statement. “We know that if anti-abortion rights politicians gain control of the Senate, they will exploit their power to push through a national abortion ban.”

    “That is why this slate of unflappable reproductive rights champions must be elected to the Senate,” McGill continued. 

    The group has already endorsed Democratic incumbents Sens. Jon Tester, Jacky Rosen, Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin in the battleground states of Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin. It has also thrown its support behind Democratic incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a staunch supporter of reproductive rights, in New York. 

    Democratic candidates across the country have sought to hone in on the issue of abortion access and reproductive rights following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The ruling sparked tight restrictions or bans on abortion in states around the country. 

    The issue has proved electorally fruitful for Democrats, who credit it for helping the party pull off a better-than-expected showing in the 2022 midterms and notch key victories in the 2023 off-year elections. 

    When the issue has appeared directly on the ballot, voters – even in red states like Kansas and Ohio – choose to keep abortion more widely accessible. 

    And Democrats are signaling they have no plans to take a step back on the issue in the first presidential election since Roe was overturned.

    “When reproductive freedom was on the ballot, the American people spoke in 2022,” President Joe Biden said at a reception at the White House on Monday in which he signed an executive order seeking to boost research on women’s health. He then pointed to Vice President Kamala Harris and declared that “with the leadership of this woman to my left here, they are going to speak out again in 2024.” 

    The Biden campaign’s first rally of the election year that featured both the president and vice president together was focused on restoring Roe v. Wade. 

    Last week, Harris became the first vice president or president to visit a facility that performs abortions when she toured a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota. 

    Planned Parenthood Action Fund, along with two other major reproductive rights groups NARAL Pro-Choice America and Emily’s List, endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket for another four years in the White House back in June.

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    Maddie Gannon

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  • Planned Parenthood endorses five Senate candidates

    Planned Parenthood endorses five Senate candidates

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    The political arm of the reproductive rights group Planned Parenthood on Wednesday announced its endorsement of five House Democrats looking to secure seats in the upper chamber of Congress in November’s election. 

    In a press release, Planned Parenthood Action Fund announced it is backing 2024 U.S. Senate candidates Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Colin Allred, D-Texas, Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.,  Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. 

    What You Need To Know

    • The political arm of the reproductive rights group Planned Parenthood on Wednesday announced its endorsement of five House Democrats looking to secure seats in the upper chamber in November’s election 
    • Planned Parenthood Action Fund is backing 2024 Senate candidates Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Colin Allred, D-Texas, Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.,  Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. 
    • The group has already endorsed Democratic incumbents Sens. Jon Tester, Jacky Rosen, Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin in the battleground states of Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin as well as President Joe Biden for another four years in the White House
    • Democratic candidates across the country have sought to hone in on the issue of abortion access and reproductive rights following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022

    In deep-blue California, Schiff is looking to defeat a challenge from former Los Angeles Dodgers player Republican Steve Garvey to fill the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat. He beat out two other House Democrats in the primary contest earlier this month to advance to November’s general race. 

    In Texas, Allred, a civil rights lawyer and former NFL player, is seeking to oust Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. 

    In Delaware and battleground Michigan, Blunt Rochester and Slotkin are hoping to fill the seats of retiring Democratic Sens. Tom Carper and Debbie Stabenow, respectively.

    Meanwhile, in one of the west’s biggest swing states, Gallego is aiming to defeat Republican Kari Lake to take over for Democratic-turned-Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema announced earlier this month that she would not seek reelection after leaving the Democratic party to become an independent following the 2022 midterms. Lake narrowly lost her race for governor of Arizona to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in 2022. 

    “We don’t have time to waste while our freedom to control our own bodies hangs in the balance,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund said in a statement. “We know that if anti-abortion rights politicians gain control of the Senate, they will exploit their power to push through a national abortion ban.”

    “That is why this slate of unflappable reproductive rights champions must be elected to the Senate,” McGill continued. 

    The group has already endorsed Democratic incumbents Sens. Jon Tester, Jacky Rosen, Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin in the battleground states of Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin. It has also thrown its support behind Democratic incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a staunch supporter of reproductive rights, in New York. 

    Democratic candidates across the country have sought to hone in on the issue of abortion access and reproductive rights following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The ruling sparked tight restrictions or bans on abortion in states around the country. 

    The issue has proved electorally fruitful for Democrats, who credit it for helping the party pull off a better-than-expected showing in the 2022 midterms and notch key victories in the 2023 off-year elections. 

    When the issue has appeared directly on the ballot, voters – even in red states like Kansas and Ohio – choose to keep abortion more widely accessible. 

    And Democrats are signaling they have no plans to take a step back on the issue in the first presidential election since Roe was overturned.

    “When reproductive freedom was on the ballot, the American people spoke in 2022,” President Joe Biden said at a reception at the White House on Monday in which he signed an executive order seeking to boost research on women’s health. He then pointed to Vice President Kamala Harris and declared that “with the leadership of this woman to my left here, they are going to speak out again in 2024.” 

    The Biden campaign’s first rally of the election year that featured both the president and vice president together was focused on restoring Roe v. Wade. 

    Last week, Harris became the first vice president or president to visit a facility that performs abortions when she toured a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota. 

    Planned Parenthood Action Fund, along with two other major reproductive rights groups NARAL Pro-Choice America and Emily’s List, endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket for another four years in the White House back in June.

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    Maddie Gannon

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  • Top college hoops tourney we know may be on way out amid college sports changes

    Top college hoops tourney we know may be on way out amid college sports changes

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    Tracking the changes upending college sports can be as frenetic as flipping between all the games going down over the first week of March Madness. Ultimately, those changes could affect what America’s favorite basketball tournament looks like in the future — or whether it exists at all.

    What You Need To Know

    • Name, image and likeness, transfer portals and court rulings have upended college sports 

    • Changes in the future could result in NCAA Tournament players receiving a share of the revenue

    • If that doesn’t happen, NCAA Tournament organizers could be challenged in court, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas says

    • Court rulings on NIL and the transfer portal have made college athletes virtually unrestricted free agents

    • That is because groups that oppose restrictions get challenged in court and lose

    News about “pay for play” in college sports gushes from a veritable firehose these days. Whether it’s the Dartmouth basketball team looking to unionize, a judge undercutting the NCAA’s ability to regulate payments to athletes or yet another bout of conference realignment, the stakes are clear: Everything in college sports is open for discussion, interpretation and adjustment.

    That includes the industry’s most hallowed tradition, the NCAA basketball tournaments, which begin this week and will stretch from coast to coast. The bottom line behind it all is money.

    “There’s no pretense anymore,” said Rick Pitino, the St. John’s coach who recently made news by proposing a salary cap and a two-year contract for players who negotiate name, image and likeness sponsorships. “Now we’re dealing with professional athletes in the guise of NIL. I’ve tried to think of solutions and ways around it. But any solutions, the courts will just obliterate it.”

    Pitino sees the courts reshaping and redefining college sports in much more aggressive fashion than what he describes as a largely hapless NCAA, an organization he has tangled with repeatedly over the years.

    The coach also recognizes the irony of basketball being inextricably linked to the future of football, where revenue from media, ticket sales and other areas dwarf those in basketball, even with its March Madness TV deal worth around $900 million a year. Virtually all the biggest decisions in college sports stem from the biggest conferences in football trying to squeeze more money out of TV rights, whether through an expanded playoff or realignment or maybe even an expanded basketball tournament.

    The four remaining mega-conferences — the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12 and Southeastern — have even floated the idea of breaking the football operation off from the NCAA in a move that some sports executives believe could ultimately dictate the future of March Madness.

    Future of March Madness

    Jay Bilas, the former Duke player who works for ESPN and has long criticized the NCAA for exploiting athletes, said today’s trends — more money and players grabbing a larger slice of it — could suggest a future in which players partake in revenue-sharing arrangements from the actual events in which they star.

    “That would, I think, make it a necessity that the NCAA do the same thing” with March Madness, Bilas said. “And with the NCAA Tournament now, if they choose not to do that and it continues to be as it is, maybe it could get challenged.”

    The most likely short-term shift appears to be expanding the tournament from its current 68 teams to somewhere between 76 and 80 — a concept that can only gain steam after an unpredictable set of conference tournament results dramatically shrunk the bubble and left a number of power-conference teams out of the draw.

    The goal would be to appease the larger conferences that want more spots for their teams, which could presumably mean more revenue for them. Uncertain is whether that would significantly grow the TV contract. Mixed up somewhere in that calculation is the reality that the tournament wouldn’t be what it is without the likes of George Mason, Saint Peter’s and FAU — underdog programs from conferences that don’t have much heft in the overall decision-making process.

    “What makes March Madness is that Cinderella can come to the ball,” Pitino said. “I don’t think they should ever be excluded from that.”

    Pitino sounds confident that the NCAA knows enough not to mess up that part of the equation.

    Far different landscape for college athletics

    The changes might be best portrayed on a casual stroll through any Division I athletic facility’s parking lot. Not even a decade ago, the sight of a big-name athlete rolling through campus with a fancy car would send a jolt that reverberated for miles — from the school’s athletic department to the phones of the local beat reporters, all the way to the NCAA compliance office.

    These days, nobody thinks twice about that. Everyone from Rickea Jackson (Tennessee) to Nijel Pack (Miami) to the entire Utah basketball and gymnastics teams has well-publicized endorsement deals with car companies.

    The cars, the jewelry and even the deal signed with a memorabilia company by Iowa star Caitlin Clark — reportedly worth more than $1 million in the first year — all started to become possible in 2021. State laws allowing sponsorships for college athletes forced the NCAA to drop the ban on such things; athletes were buoyed by a separate Supreme Court ruling that made clear that any attempt by the NCAA to stop them would likely fail.

    “I don’t really spend any time trying to imagine” what might happen next, North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. “I never thought in the three years that I was head coach that it would be the birth of NIL, the transfer portal, the extra COVID year, the involvement of agents more than parents on the backside of the (COVID-19) pandemic.”

    Also factoring into the equation is last month’s ruling by a regional office of the National Labor Relations Board that allowed the Dartmouth men’s basketball team to unionize and seek payment from the school the way any other employee would.

    That sort of ruling only applies to private schools, which are a distinct minority in major college sports. Still, Southern California’s football and basketball players are pursuing a similar path, and there’s a sense more will follow. Sensing the inevitable shift, NCAA President Charlie Baker sent a letter to schools in December proposing a new tier of Division I sports in which schools would be required to offer at least half their athletes a payment of at least $30,000 a year through a trust fund.

    “That’s just violating federal antitrust laws a little less than you did before,” Bilas said. “It’s still a unilaterally imposed cap.”

    In case after case, judges are ruling against those sort of restrictions.

    The Dartmouth ruling came shortly after a judge in Tennessee ruled the NCAA could not forbid schools from using NIL offers as recruiting inducements. Late last year, a judge in West Virginia put a stop to an NCAA proposal to restrict transfers, meaning players remain free to move between schools, often in pursuit of more playing time and better NIL deals.

    Free agency is not just for the pros

    Add it all up, and there are few constraints to this opening burst of college free agency — a system unevenly regulated by a patchwork of state laws, with the NCAA all but standing to the side watching a new era develop, or envelop, the business it is tasked with overseeing.

    “I’ve been saying we’ve been living in the dog days of college sports because we’re seeing seven years’ worth of changes in one year,” said Amy Perko, who chairs the Knight Commission, a college sports advocacy group that seeks reforms based on academic and Title IX compliance.

    Most coaches, at least in public, agree players are long overdue to receive some sort of payday as the main cogs in what has become a multibillion-dollar entertainment industry.

    Pitino is in that camp. When he made news last month by calling this the most difficult year of his coaching career, most interpreted it as a shot across the bow at his team, which was underachieving at the time and fell short of reaching the NCAA Tournament. Pitino responded by saying his team wasn’t interested in the NIT and was moving on to next season.

    He said his real frustration lies elsewhere.

    “The most disturbing thing to me is, every single meeting we’re having right now is, ‘This player’s leaving, I hear this player’s leaving’,” Pitino said. “It’s an awful feeling that the goal of developing players is gone. For me, it’s been the most disappointing year — not what’s taken place on the court, but what’s taken place outside the court.”

    He is giving voice to the reality that, even though the fight songs and school colors might not change, college sports can’t even pretend to be amateur sports anymore. Time will tell if that bodes well or ill for the future of March Madness.

    “The flashing red light is, what is college sports eventually going to become?” said Martin Edel, an attorney who teaches sports law at Columbia Law School.

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    Associated Press

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  • Purdue’s Edey, Tennessee’s Knecht, UNC’s Davis headline the AP All-America teams

    Purdue’s Edey, Tennessee’s Knecht, UNC’s Davis headline the AP All-America teams

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    For the second straight year, Purdue’s Zach Edey is the unanimous headliner for The Associated Press men’s college basketball All-America team.

    What You Need To Know

    • Purdue big man Zach Edey is an unanimous first-team All-American for The Associated Press for the second straight season. The 7-foot-4 senior topped all 62 ballots from AP Top 25 poll voters in results released Tuesday
    • Edey was joined on the first team by Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht, North Carolina’s RJ Davis, Houston’s Jamal Shead and Connecticut’s Tristen Newton
    • Marquette’s Tyler Kolek, Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II, Alabama’s Mark Sears, Duke’s Kyle Filipowski and Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson were second-team picks
    • San Diego State’s Jaedon LeDee, Auburn’s Johni Broome, Arizona’s Caleb Love, Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman and Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. were third-team picks

    The 7-foot-4, 300-pound senior topped all 62 ballots from AP Top 25 poll voters in results released Tuesday. The reigning AP national player of the year claimed all 58 votes last year.

    Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht and North Carolina’s RJ Davis joined Edey (310 points) in a clear top trio. Knecht (298) was a first-team pick on 56 ballots, Davis (296) on 55 and both appeared among the top 10 players on every ballot.

    Houston’s Jamal Shead and Tristen Newton of reigning NCAA champion Connecticut rounded out the first team.

    Edey leads the country in scoring at 24.4 points and ranks third in rebounding (11.7). Named the AP’s Big Ten player of the year for a second straight time, Edey has the chance to be the first player to repeat as AP national player of the year since another 7-4 star: Virginia’s Ralph Sampson in 1981, 1982 and 1983.

    Edey became Purdue’s career scoring leader during a loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament.

    “The thing here is, at the end of the day, he won’t take credit for himself,” teammate Braden Smith said. “He’ll always point to us and say he got here because of us and we were helping him. Awesome accomplishment for him.”

    Knecht, a 6-6 transfer from Northern Colorado, is the AP’s Southeastern Conference player of the year. He is only the fourth Volunteer to earn first-team honors, joining Grant Williams (2019), Dale Ellis (1983) and Bernard King (1977) after averaging 21.1 points to help the Volunteers win their first SEC regular-season crown since 2008.

    “His journey is one that you kind of read about, like fairy-tale type deals,” Vols associate head coach Justin Gainey said. “Just to see him get to this point and achieve what he’s achieved, it’s amazing. But it goes to his hard work, his work ethic, his mindset, his confidence and belief in himself.”

    Davis, a 6-0 guard, led was named the AP player of the year for the Atlantic Coast Conference after averaging a league-best 21.4 points. He is UNC’s first first-team AP All-American since 2017.

    “RJ has been our closer, and in (close games) it’s a huge luxury to know you can put the ball in our guard’s hands and he’ll either make the right shot or make the right play,” big man Armando Bacot said of Davis during the ACC Tournament.

    Shead, a 6-1 senior, has been the floor leader for a Houston team that won the Big 12 regular-season crown in its first year in the rugged league. The honor for Shead, the AP player of the year in the Big 12, follows the Cougars having a first-team selection last year with guard Marcus Sasser.

    Newton, a 6-5 graduate, has elevated his game to give UConn the look of a team that could become college basketball’s first repeat champion since Florida in 2006 and 2007. With the departures of Final Four most outstanding player Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins, Newton increased his scoring from 10.1 points last year to 15.2 points on the way to becoming the AP’s player of the year in the Big East for the league champion.

    Newton is UConn’s first first-team AP All-American since Shabazz Napier in 2014.

    Second team 

    Marquette’s Tyler Kolek headlined the second team and was the only other player to earn at least 10 first-team votes. The guard was an AP third-team All-American last season.

    Alabama’s Mark Sears joined Kolek in the backcourt of that second quintet, which boasts an imposing front line with Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II (6-10), Duke’s Kyle Filipowski (7-0) and Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson (7-2) — a second-team selection in 2021 when he was at Michigan.

    Third team

    San Diego State’s Jaedon LeDee led the third-team selections, joined by Auburn’s Johni Broome, Pac-12 player of the year Caleb Love of Arizona and Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman.

    The final spot went to Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. (54 points), the nation’s No. 3 scorer at 23 points per game.

    Honorable mention

    Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves and Kansas’ Kevin McCullar Jr. finished right behind Shannon to stand as the leading vote-getters among players who didn’t make the All-America teams.

    Players earned honorable-mention status if they appeared on multiple voters’ ballots. While 21 players qualified, Reeves (52), McCullar (52) and Providence’s Devin Carter (36) were the only players to get more than 15 points in voting from that group.

    The honorable-mention list also included Bacot, a preseason All-American pick who was a third-team All-American last year.

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    Associated Press

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  • Purdue’s Edey, Tennessee’s Knecht, UNC’s Davis headline the AP All-America teams

    Purdue’s Edey, Tennessee’s Knecht, UNC’s Davis headline the AP All-America teams

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    For the second straight year, Purdue’s Zach Edey is the unanimous headliner for The Associated Press men’s college basketball All-America team.

    What You Need To Know

    • Purdue big man Zach Edey is an unanimous first-team All-American for The Associated Press for the second straight season. The 7-foot-4 senior topped all 62 ballots from AP Top 25 poll voters in results released Tuesday
    • Edey was joined on the first team by Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht, North Carolina’s RJ Davis, Houston’s Jamal Shead and Connecticut’s Tristen Newton
    • Marquette’s Tyler Kolek, Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II, Alabama’s Mark Sears, Duke’s Kyle Filipowski and Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson were second-team picks
    • San Diego State’s Jaedon LeDee, Auburn’s Johni Broome, Arizona’s Caleb Love, Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman and Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. were third-team picks

    The 7-foot-4, 300-pound senior topped all 62 ballots from AP Top 25 poll voters in results released Tuesday. The reigning AP national player of the year claimed all 58 votes last year.

    Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht and North Carolina’s RJ Davis joined Edey (310 points) in a clear top trio. Knecht (298) was a first-team pick on 56 ballots, Davis (296) on 55 and both appeared among the top 10 players on every ballot.

    Houston’s Jamal Shead and Tristen Newton of reigning NCAA champion Connecticut rounded out the first team.

    Edey leads the country in scoring at 24.4 points and ranks third in rebounding (11.7). Named the AP’s Big Ten player of the year for a second straight time, Edey has the chance to be the first player to repeat as AP national player of the year since another 7-4 star: Virginia’s Ralph Sampson in 1981, 1982 and 1983.

    Edey became Purdue’s career scoring leader during a loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament.

    “The thing here is, at the end of the day, he won’t take credit for himself,” teammate Braden Smith said. “He’ll always point to us and say he got here because of us and we were helping him. Awesome accomplishment for him.”

    Knecht, a 6-6 transfer from Northern Colorado, is the AP’s Southeastern Conference player of the year. He is only the fourth Volunteer to earn first-team honors, joining Grant Williams (2019), Dale Ellis (1983) and Bernard King (1977) after averaging 21.1 points to help the Volunteers win their first SEC regular-season crown since 2008.

    “His journey is one that you kind of read about, like fairy-tale type deals,” Vols associate head coach Justin Gainey said. “Just to see him get to this point and achieve what he’s achieved, it’s amazing. But it goes to his hard work, his work ethic, his mindset, his confidence and belief in himself.”

    Davis, a 6-0 guard, led was named the AP player of the year for the Atlantic Coast Conference after averaging a league-best 21.4 points. He is UNC’s first first-team AP All-American since 2017.

    “RJ has been our closer, and in (close games) it’s a huge luxury to know you can put the ball in our guard’s hands and he’ll either make the right shot or make the right play,” big man Armando Bacot said of Davis during the ACC Tournament.

    Shead, a 6-1 senior, has been the floor leader for a Houston team that won the Big 12 regular-season crown in its first year in the rugged league. The honor for Shead, the AP player of the year in the Big 12, follows the Cougars having a first-team selection last year with guard Marcus Sasser.

    Newton, a 6-5 graduate, has elevated his game to give UConn the look of a team that could become college basketball’s first repeat champion since Florida in 2006 and 2007. With the departures of Final Four most outstanding player Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins, Newton increased his scoring from 10.1 points last year to 15.2 points on the way to becoming the AP’s player of the year in the Big East for the league champion.

    Newton is UConn’s first first-team AP All-American since Shabazz Napier in 2014.

    Second team 

    Marquette’s Tyler Kolek headlined the second team and was the only other player to earn at least 10 first-team votes. The guard was an AP third-team All-American last season.

    Alabama’s Mark Sears joined Kolek in the backcourt of that second quintet, which boasts an imposing front line with Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II (6-10), Duke’s Kyle Filipowski (7-0) and Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson (7-2) — a second-team selection in 2021 when he was at Michigan.

    Third team

    San Diego State’s Jaedon LeDee led the third-team selections, joined by Auburn’s Johni Broome, Pac-12 player of the year Caleb Love of Arizona and Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman.

    The final spot went to Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. (54 points), the nation’s No. 3 scorer at 23 points per game.

    Honorable mention

    Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves and Kansas’ Kevin McCullar Jr. finished right behind Shannon to stand as the leading vote-getters among players who didn’t make the All-America teams.

    Players earned honorable-mention status if they appeared on multiple voters’ ballots. While 21 players qualified, Reeves (52), McCullar (52) and Providence’s Devin Carter (36) were the only players to get more than 15 points in voting from that group.

    The honorable-mention list also included Bacot, a preseason All-American pick who was a third-team All-American last year.

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    Associated Press

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  • The spring equinox is here. What does that mean?

    The spring equinox is here. What does that mean?

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    Spring is almost here — officially, at least.

    The vernal equinox arrives on Tuesday, marking the start of the spring season for the Northern Hemisphere.

    What You Need To Know

    • The spring equinox is at 11:06 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19

    • Earth’s axis lines up with the sun so both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight

    • Astronomical seasons differ from meteorological seasons


    But what does that actually mean? Here’s what to know about how we split up the year using the Earth’s orbit.

    What is the equinox?

    As the Earth travels around the sun, it does so at an angle.

    For most of the year, the Earth’s axis is tilted either toward or away from the sun. That means the sun’s warmth and light fall unequally on the northern and southern halves of the planet.

    During the equinox, the Earth’s axis and its orbit line up so that both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight.

    The word equinox comes from two Latin words meaning equal and night. That’s because on the equinox, day and night last almost the same amount of time — though one may get a few extra minutes, depending on where you are on the planet.

    The Northern Hemisphere’s spring — or vernal — equinox can land between March 19 and 21, depending on the year. Its fall – or autumnal — equinox can land between Sept. 21 and 24.

    What is the solstice?

    The solstices mark the times during the year when the Earth is at its most extreme tilt toward or away from the sun. This means the hemispheres are getting very different amounts of sunlight — and days and nights are at their most unequal.

    During the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice, the upper half of the earth is tilted in toward the sun, creating the longest day and shortest night of the year. This solstice falls between June 20 and 22.

    Meanwhile, at the winter solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is leaning away from the sun — leading to the shortest day and longest night of the year. The winter solstice falls between December 20 and 23.

    What’s the difference between meteorological and astronomical seasons?

    These are just two different ways to carve up the year.

    Meteorological seasons are defined by the weather. They break down the year into three-month seasons based on annual temperature cycles. By that calendar, spring starts on March 1, summer on June 1, fall on Sept. 1 and winter on Dec. 1.

    Astronomical seasons depend on how the Earth moves around the sun.

    Equinoxes mark the start of spring and autumn. Solstices kick off summer and winter.

    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Associated Press

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  • Congress announces agreement on spending deal, races to avert shutdown

    Congress announces agreement on spending deal, races to avert shutdown

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    House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Tuesday morning announced that negotiators have reached an agreement on the remaining spending bills needed to fund the federal government through September and avoid a shutdown.

    What You Need To Know

    • Congressional leaders on Tuesday announced they reached an agreement on the remaining spending bills needed to fund the federal government through September and avoid a shutdown

    • Lawmakers had previously reached an agreement on five of the six spending bills needed to avoid a shutdown on Friday night, but they clashed over funding for the Department of Homeland Security

    • The package of bills, also known as a “minibus,” includes funding for not just Homeland Security, but the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Defense, State and Treasury, as well as the legislative branch

    • Timing will be tight to avert a shutdown, with lawmakers scrambling to draft legislative text ahead of Friday’s deadline


    Lawmakers had previously reached an agreement on five of the six spending bills needed to avoid a shutdown on Friday night, but they clashed over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. 

    “An agreement has been reached for DHS appropriations, which will allow completion of the FY24 appropriations process,” Johnson said in a statement, adding that the bill will be drafted “as soon as possible.”

    “Senate and House leaders and the White House have reached an agreement to finish the final set of full year appropriations bills,” Schumer wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “The Senate and House Appropriations Committees are in the process of finalizing text and reports for Congress to closely review and consider ASAP.”

    The package of bills, also known as a “minibus,” includes funding for not just Homeland Security, but the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Defense, State and Treasury, as well as the legislative branch. President Joe Biden pledged to sign it “immediately” once it passes Congress and reaches his desk.

    “We have come to an agreement with Congressional leaders on a path forward for the remaining full-year funding bills,” he said in a statement. “The House and Senate are now working to finalize a package that can quickly be brought to the floor, and I will sign it immediately.”

    But timing will be tight to avert a shutdown, with lawmakers scrambling to draft legislative text ahead of the deadline. House Republican leadership has pledged that it will give members 72 hours to review the legislation, which could make for a close call depending on when the bill is released. Johnson might also need to bring the bill up under the suspension of the House rules, which allows for expedited review of a bill, but would need two-third of the chamber to support it in order for it to pass.

    “In the next few days, upon completion of the drafting process, Congress will review and consider the appropriations package in order to fund the government and meet the needs of hardworking American taxpayers,” Jeffries said in a statement.

    It could also face some Republican opposition. Some members of the House GOP expressed concern about the way the minibus was negotiated.

    “We are back in Ryan-Boehner swamp mode where the omnibus is written behind closed doors,” Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie wrote on X, referring to the last two Republican House speakers, Paul Ryan and John Boehner. “Members are told to take it or leave it, and although Republicans control the House, more Democrats vote for it than Republicans because it spends more money than when [Nancy] Pelosi was in charge.”

    Republicans have also been opposed to the packaging together of bills, as well as the lack of inclusion of provisions like abortion restrictions and bans on diversity and inclusion programs within federal agencies.

    Once enacted by the House, the Senate must then take up the bill. Schumer would need the consent of every member of the chamber to speed up consideration of the measure, and any one lawmaker could hold up the process. Typically, leadership will come to an agreement on expedited consideration in exchange the

    The package being finalized is expected to provide about $886 billion for the Pentagon. The bill will also fund the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and others.

    Overall, the two spending packages provide about a 3% boost for defense, while keeping nondefense spending roughly flat with the year before. That’s in keeping with an agreement that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy worked out with the White House, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    Justin Tasolides

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  • Biden and Netanyahu hold first call in more than a month

    Biden and Netanyahu hold first call in more than a month

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    President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Monday, their first interaction in more than a month, as the divide has grown between allies over food crisis in Gaza, conduct of war, according to the White House.

    What You Need To Know

    • President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have spoken in their first interaction in more than a month

    • The Monday call comes after Republicans in Washington and Israeli officials were quick to express outrage after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sharply criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and called for Israel to hold new elections
    • They accused the Democratic leader of breaking the unwritten rule against interfering in a close ally’s electoral politics
    • Biden hasn’t endorsed Schumer’s call for election but said he thought he gave a “good speech” that reflected the concerns of many Americans

    The call comes after Republicans in Washington and Israeli officials were quick to express outrage after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sharply criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and called for Israel to hold new elections. They accused the Democratic leader of breaking the unwritten rule against interfering in a close ally’s electoral politics.

    Biden hasn’t endorsed Schumer’s call for election but said he thought he gave a “good speech” that reflected the concerns of many Americans.

    The White House has been skeptical of Netanyahu’s plan of carrying out an operation in the southern city of Rafah, to which more than a 1 million displaced Palestinians have fled, as Israel looks to eliminate Hamas following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack. Biden administration officials have warned that they would not support such an operation without the Israelis presenting a credible plan to ensure the safety of innocent Palestinian civilians.

    Israel has yet to present such a plan, according to White House officials.

    The Biden-Netanyahu call also comes as the United Nations food agency on Monday issued more dire warnings about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

    The World Food Program warned that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger, and that a further escalation of the war could push around half of Gaza’s population to the brink of starvation.

    Netanyahu lashed out against the American criticism on Sunday, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”

    Netanyahu told Fox News Channel that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and he denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.

    “We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.”

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  • More Muslim students in the U.S. are getting support as they fast during Ramadan

    More Muslim students in the U.S. are getting support as they fast during Ramadan

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    While Muslim students remain a rarity in many U.S. school districts, they are a major presence in some communities, prompting public schools to be more attentive to their needs during the holy month of Ramadan when dawn-to-sundown fasting is a duty of Islam.

    What You Need To Know

    • While Muslim students remain a rarity in many U.S. school districts, they are a major presence in some communities
    • That’s prompted some public schools to be more attentive to their needs during the holy month of Ramadan when dawn-to-sundown fasting is a duty of Islam
    • For example, there’s a magnet school in St. Paul, Minnesota, serving many Muslim students from Somalia. There’s an area in the library set aside for those who are fasting so they don’t need to be in the cafeteria
    • There’s also increased awareness that Ramadan means early rising and late bedtimes for many families

    For example, in Dearborn, Michigan — where nearly half the 110,000 residents are of Arab descent — public school teachers and staff strive to make things easier for students observing Ramadan.

    “We allow students on their own to practice their faith as long as it’s not a disruption to the school day,” said Dearborn Schools spokesperson David Mustonen. “We also try to find other spaces or activities in the school during lunch for those students who may be fasting.”

    But he stressed that these students are still required to complete all assignments.

    In St. Paul, Minnesota, East African Elementary Magnet School has set aside space in the library where students who are fasting and don’t want to be in the cafeteria can spend the break doing other supervised activities like reading, said principal Abdisalam Adam.

    The 220-student school opened last fall as part of St. Paul’s public schools system, and shares that curriculum, but it also aims to reinforce cultural and linguistic connections with Somalia and other East African countries. Adam said about 90% of the students are Somali Muslims.

    Adam, who has worked with the district for nearly 30 years, said he tells his staff that accommodating observance of Ramadan fits in with an overall goal of caring for students.

    “All needs are connected,” he said.

    For school districts less familiar with Muslim traditions, resources are available. For example, Islamic Networks Group, a California-based nonprofit, provides, among other things, online information for educators about Ramadan and its significance to Muslims.

    Many districts “don’t know very much about Islam or any of our holidays,” said Maha Elgenaidi, the group’s executive director. “If they don’t know very much about it, there’s not much they can provide to students in terms of accommodation” until they learn more and the parents are actively involved in asking for accommodations.

    She says fasting students may need to be excused from strenuous activities in gym class, and should be allowed to make up for tests missed due to absence to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday that follows Ramadan.

    “If they’re not accommodated at school or the school doesn’t know anything about this, they’re kind of living dual lives there.”

    Fasting is not required of young children, but many Muslim children like to fast to share in the month’s rituals and emulate parents and older siblings, according to ING. Educators also need to know of the typical changes to Muslim families’ routines during Ramadan, such as waking up for the pre-dawn “suhoor” meal and staying up late to possibly attend prayers in the mosque, Elgenaidi said.

    When Dr. Aifra Ahmed’s children were younger, the Pakistani American physician and her husband would share insight about Ramadan with their classmates, reading to them a Ramadan story and distributing goodie bags with such things as dates.

    “I realized that the Muslim families in school have to do a lot of education,” said Ahmed, who lives in Los Altos, California.

    Ahmed’s husband, Moazzam Chaudry, said goodwill gestures, such as when educators offer a Ramadan greeting, send a message of inclusivity.

    For immigrant families, “that’s the first thing that … naturally comes to your mind, ‘Are we integrated into this society? Does this society even accept us?’” he said. “These little, little things make such a huge impact.”

    Punhal, the couple’s daughter who attends a charter middle school, said she takes part in physical education during Ramadan but skips running when fasting because she would need water afterward.

    She said a few non-Muslim friends told her they would like to fast with her in companionship.

    Naiel, her brother who’s in a public high school, said he was pleased when a teacher talked to the class about Ramadan and told him that, if he needed, he could take a nap.

    He wants others to better understand why he fasts.

    “A lot of kids and teachers think … I’m torturing myself or like it’s a diet,” he said. “When I’m fasting, I just feel a lot more gratitude towards everyone around me and towards people who don’t have as much.”

    In Dearborn, 14-year-old Adam Alcodray praised the faculty at Dearborn High for their understanding during Ramadan.

    “A lot of the teachers are just like more lenient, allowing us to do less,” said Alcodray, a 9th grader. “They don’t get mad because they realize we are hungry.”

    Alcodray says he fasts from 6:20 a.m. until around 8 p.m.

    “It’s not that bad to be honest,” he said. “When you know you can’t eat, something in your brain clicks.”

    Hussein Mortada, a 17-year-old senior at Dearborn High, said family solidarity is invaluable during Ramadan.

    “In my family, everybody’s fasting,” Mortada said. “Everybody’s going through the same thing. The whole month is meant for you to get closer to God and make your religion stronger.”

    This year, Ramadan carries extra significance due to the hardships being suffered by people in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war, Mortada said.

    “I feel helpless just sitting here on my phone, looking at everything that’s happening,” he said. “All you can do is feel for them and pray for them.”

    Alcodray shared similar sentiments.

    “When you look at what the children are eating in Gaza, you appreciate what your mom makes,” he said. “When you’re having a bad day, realize what they are going through.”

    At the East African magnet school in St. Paul, Marian Aden — who trains other teachers there — makes it a priority to encourage Ramadan-related accommodations for fasting students.

    Aden said her youngest daughter, 4-year-old Nora, woke up excited about Ramadan’s start on March 11 — but her teachers in the suburb where they live weren’t familiar with the occasion. Aden said she’ll be relieved when Nora starts attending the magnet school next year.

    “She’ll be celebrated for who she is,” Aden said.

    Minnesota has been home to growing numbers of refugees from war-torn Somalia since the late 1990s. Several school districts have recently made Eid a holiday.

    In Washington, D.C., Abdul Fouzi has two daughters, ages 8 and 12, who have gradually learned the meaning and rituals of Ramadan.

    Growing up in Sierra Leone in the 1980s, Fouzi said he was fasting for a full day as early as age 11. But he has not pushed his elder daughter to do likewise.

    “They’re still pretty young so they’re not ready to go the whole day without food or water,” he said. “They’re not built like that.”

    Still, he wants them to get used to the idea; this year he’d like them to experiment with fasting for a half day.

    To Fouzi, more important than strict adherence to the rules at their age is their understanding of Ramadan’s meaning and the importance of praying for peace.

    “They make up their own little rules and find loopholes figuring out how they want to participate in and practice Ramadan in different ways, and I’m okay with that,” he said.

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  • Netanyahu rails against U.S. criticism, says Israel won’t stop war in Gaza

    Netanyahu rails against U.S. criticism, says Israel won’t stop war in Gaza

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    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed Sunday against growing criticism from top ally the United States against his leadership amid the devastating war with Hamas, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”

    In recent days, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country and a strong Israel supporter, called on Israel to hold a new election, saying Netanyahu had “lost his way.” President Joe Biden expressed support for Schumer’s “good speech,” and earlier accused Netanyahu of hurting Israel because of the huge civilian death toll in Gaza.

    What You Need To Know

    • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is railing against international criticism of his government amid the devasting war with Hamas
    • Netanyahu spoke days after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Israel to hold new a election and said Netanyahu had “lost his way”
    • Netanyahu said Sunday that an election would force Israel to stop fighting and would paralyze the country for months
    • He said that no amount of international pressure would stop Israel from eliminating Hamas and freeing those held hostage in Gaza
    • The Gaza Health Ministry says the war has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians. The fighting began when Hamas attacked Israel and killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage


    Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11 attacks, and denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.

    “We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.”

    When asked by CNN whether he would commit to a new election after the war ends, Netanyahu said that “I think that’s something for the Israeli public to decide.”

    The U.S., which has provided key military and diplomatic support to Israel, also has expressed concerns about a planned Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, told Fox the U.S. still hasn’t seen an Israeli plan for Rafah.

    The U.S. supports a new round of talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in exchange for the return of Israeli hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

    The Israeli delegation to those talks wasn’t expected to leave for Qatar until after Sunday evening meetings of the Security Cabinet and War Cabinet, which will give directions for the negotiations.

    Despite the talks, Netanyahu made it clear he had no plan to back down from the fighting that has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. More than five months have passed since Hamas’ attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people and left another 250 hostage in Gaza.

    Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu said that calls for an election now — which polls show he would lose badly — would force Israel to stop fighting and would paralyze the country for six months.

    Netanyahu also reiterated his determination to attack Hamas in Rafah and said that his government approved military plans for such an operation.

    “We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen,” he said.

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi reiterated his warning that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah would have “grave repercussions on the whole region.” Egypt also says pushing Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula would jeopardize its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of regional stability for nearly a half-century.

    And German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, warned that “the more desperate the situation of people in Gaza becomes, the more this begs the question: No matter how important the goal, can it justify such terribly high costs, or are there other ways to achieve your goal?”

    Germany is one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe and, given memories of the Holocaust, often treads carefully when criticizing Israel.

    Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul-general in New York and an outspoken critic of Netanyahu, said that the prime minister’s comments fit with his efforts to find someone else to blame should Israel not achieve its goal of destroying Hamas.

    “He’s looking on purpose for a conflict with the U.S. so that he can blame Biden,” Pinkas said.

    Both sides have something to gain politically from the dispute. The Biden administration is under increasing pressure from progressive Democrats and some Arab-American supporters to restrain Israel’s war against Hamas. Netanyahu, meanwhile, wants to show his nationalist base that he can withstand global pressure, even from Israel’s closest ally.

    But pressure also comes from home, with thousands protesting again in Tel Aviv on Saturday night against Netanyahu’s government and calling for a new election and a deal to free remaining hostages.

    Israel’s offensive has driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving, according to the U.N.

    Airdrops by the U.S. and other nations continue, while deliveries on a new sea route have begun, but aid groups say more ground routes and fewer Israeli restrictions on them are needed to meet humanitarian needs in any significant way.

    “Of course we should be bringing humanitarian aid by road. Of course by now we should be having at least two, three other entry points into Gaza,” chef JosĂ© AndrĂ©s with World Central Kitchen, which organized the tons of food delivered by sea, told NBC.

    The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 31,645 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

    The Health Ministry on Sunday said that the bodies of 92 people killed in Israel’s bombardment had been brought to hospitals in Gaza in the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 130 wounded, it said.

    At least 11 people from the Thabet family, including five children and one woman, were killed in an airstrike in Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and an Associated Press journalist. The body of an infant lay among the dead.

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  • More people than ever can legally bet on March Madness games

    More people than ever can legally bet on March Madness games

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    People in North Carolina may have a little more riding on this year’s NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, as they will be able to legally bet on the games through their smartphone apps and computers for the first time.

    What You Need To Know

    • North Carolina last week became the latest state allowing online sports betting

    • A total of 38 states and the District of Columbia now allow some form of sports betting

    • Before a 2018 Supreme Court decision, people could legally wager on games only in Nevada

    • $2.7 billion will be bet on the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments through legal sports betting operators, according to the American Gaming Association

    For the sixth straight year, the number of states allowing legal sports betting has expanded since the last rendition of March Madness. A total of 38 states and the District of Columbia now allow some form sports betting, including 30 states and the nation’s capital that allow online wagering.

    That’s up from one state, Nevada, where people could legally wager on games during the 2018 college basketball tournaments, before the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for expansion.

    The rules for sports betting vary by state. Some states prohibit bets on home-state college teams or the performance of specific players. Others allow bets not only on the outcome of any college games but also on a variety of other things, such as the number of points, rebounds and assists that a particular player will tally.

    Here are some things to know about sports betting as the tourneys open, with the men’s games starting Tuesday and the women’s competition beginning Wednesday.

    Big money

    Fans have long filled out NCAA tournament brackets while wagering in office pools or against friends and family. But those casual bets have increasingly been supplemented with more formal gambling.

    The total amount bet on all sports through legal wagering sites exceeded $121 billion in 2023, up 30% from the previous year, according to the American Gaming Association. After paying out winnings, sports betting operators reaped $11 billion in revenue, up from about $7.5 billion the previous year.

    The association estimates $2.7 billion will be bet this year on the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments through legal sports books.

    “March Madness is the biggest kind of individual event of the year for sports betting,” said David Forman, the association’s vice president of research.

    The Super Bowl also draws big bets, but it’s only one game between two NFL teams. The NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments feature a total of 136 teams playing 134 games over three weeks.

    Can you bet on your team?

    Despite living where sports betting is legal, some fans still could be blocked from betting on their favorite teams and players.

    Roughly a dozen states bar bets on college games involving home-state teams. Four additional states — Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont — generally prohibit bets involving their own college teams but make exceptions for tournaments.

    Some states only allow bets on the outcome of college games, not how particular players will perform. Maryland and Ohio banned so-called proposition bets on college players, effective this month.

    The NCAA has raised concerns that player-specific bets can lead to problems, including the harassment of college athletes and strain on their mental health. The organization also says such bets could entice players to wager on themselves or alter their play to affect stats-based bets.

    New betting states

    Since the University of Connecticut won the men’s tournament last year, half a dozen states have launched or expanded sports betting.

    Nebraska began taking sports bets at casinos in June, though it doesn’t allow mobile wagers. Kentucky launched sports betting in September to coincide with the start of the NFL season, and Maine began doing so in November.

    After a court victory, the Seminole Tribe of Florida in December began taking online sports bets in addition to wagers at its casinos. Wagering has continued while a challenge is pending before the Florida Supreme Court. Opponents also have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case.

    In January, Vermont launched online sports betting.

    North Carolina, which previously allowed sports betting only at three tribal casinos, began permitting online sports wagering statewide on March 11, a day before the start of the popular ACC men’s basketball tournament but a day after the women’s tournament ended.

    Odds for other states

    Several states have a chance to join the sports betting trend.

    In Missouri, where legislative attempts have repeatedly failed, the St. Louis Cardinals are leading a coalition of professional sports teams supporting an initiative petition that could place sports betting on the November ballot. Sports betting operators DraftKings and FanDuel have contributed a combined $3 million to the effort. Supporters say they are on track to exceed the required signatures by a May 5 deadline.

    Lawmakers in Alabama and Georgia also are considering constitutional amendments authorizing sports betting. Georgia senators passed a measure last month, but it still needs a two-thirds vote from the House to appear on this year’s ballot.

    Alabama’s House included sports betting in a wide-ranging gambling measure, but the state Senate stripped it out earlier this month. The House now must decide whether to accept that change or negotiate a final version to go to voters.

    Legislation to legalize sports betting also is pending in Oklahoma and Minnesota. A Minnesota state Senate committee endorsed a revised version Thursday that would raise the proposed tax rate.

    Mississippi, which legalized casino sports betting in 2018, is considering an expansion to online betting. A bill passed the House last month and is now in the state Senate.

    Crossing state lines

    Although sports betting remains illegal in a dozen states, some residents place bets by crossing state lines. In Missouri’s two largest cities, St. Louis and Kansas City, some people drive to the nearest commuter lots or highway exit ramps just across the border in Illinois or Kansas, respectively, to place legal bets through mobile apps.

    Many other would-be bettors get thwarted by technology.

    During the weekend of the Super Bowl, where the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers, technology company GeoComply Solutions said it processed more than 431,000 location checks from about 40,500 mobile devices in Missouri that attempted to access other states’ legal sports betting sites. The location checks allowed those bets to be blocked.

    During that weekend, GeoComply said it processed an additional 256,000 location checks for sports betting sites coming from 30,000 devices in Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota and Mississippi.

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  • U.S. to investigate Texas fatal crash that may have involved automated system

    U.S. to investigate Texas fatal crash that may have involved automated system

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    DETROIT (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a fatal crash in San Antonio, Texas, involving a Ford electric vehicle that may have been using a partially automated driving system.

    What You Need To Know

    • The agency said in a statement Friday that a team of investigators from its Office of Highway Safety will travel to Texas and work with police on the Feb. 24 crash on Interstate 10

    • The NTSB said that preliminary information shows a Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV equipped with the company’s partially automated driving system collided with the rear of a Honda CR-V that was stopped in one of the highway lanes

    • Television station KSAT reported that the Mach-E driver told police the Honda was stopped in the middle lane with no lights on before the crash around 9:50 p.m. The 56-year-old driver of the CR-V was killed

    • Ford’s Blue Cruise system allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel while it handles steering, braking and acceleration on highways. The company says the system isn’t fully autonomous, and it monitors drivers to make sure they pay attention to the road

    The agency said in a statement Friday that a team of investigators from its Office of Highway Safety will travel to Texas and work with police on the Feb. 24 crash on Interstate 10.

    The NTSB said that preliminary information shows a Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV equipped with the company’s partially automated driving system collided with the rear of a Honda CR-V that was stopped in one of the highway lanes.

    Television station KSAT reported that the Mach-E driver told police the Honda was stopped in the middle lane with no lights on before the crash around 9:50 p.m. The 56-year-old driver of the CR-V was killed.

    “NTSB is investigating this fatal crash due to its continued interest in advanced driver assistance systems and how vehicle operators interact with these technologies,” the agency statement said.

    Ford’s Blue Cruise system allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel while it handles steering, braking and acceleration on highways. The company says the system isn’t fully autonomous, and it monitors drivers to make sure they pay attention to the road. It operates on 97% of controlled access highways in the U.S. and Canada, Ford says.

    There are no fully autonomous vehicles for sale to the public in the U.S.

    The NTSB said investigators will travel to San Antonio to examine wreckage, collect information about the crash scene and investigate the events leading up to the collision. A preliminary report is expected within 30 days.

    In a statement, Ford said it is researching the crash and the facts are not yet clear. The company expressed sympathy to those involved and said it reported the crash to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

    Both NHTSA and the NTSB have investigated multiple previous crashes involving partially automated driving systems, most involving Tesla’s Autopilot. In past investigations, the NTSB has examined how the partially automated system functioned.

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  • Some rural hospitals shifting to emergency-only care

    Some rural hospitals shifting to emergency-only care

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    As rural hospitals continue to struggle financially, a new type of hospital is slowly taking root, especially in the Southeast.

    What You Need To Know

    • Rural hospitals that close their inpatient care beds to offer emergency care can get federal funding and higher Medicare reimbursements

    • The federal government’s effort, which started in 2023, is seen as a solution for some struggling rural hospitals

    • It means rural patients might have to travel farther to receive inpatient care

    Rural emergency hospitals receive more than $3 million in federal funding a year and higher Medicare reimbursements in exchange for closing all inpatient beds and providing 24/7 emergency care. While that makes it easier for a hospital to stay open, experts say it doesn’t solve all of the challenges facing rural health care.

    People might have to travel farther for treatments for illnesses that require inpatient stays, like pneumonia or COVID-19. In some of the communities where hospitals have converted to the new designation, residents are confused about what kind of care they can receive. Plus, rural hospitals are hesitant to make the switch, because there’s no margin of error.

    “It’s ironic” that the facilities that might need the most help can’t afford to take the risk, said Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer at the National Rural Health Association.

    She pointed to having to give up certain services and benefits, such as a federal discount program for prescription drugs.

    The government, which classifies hospitals by type, rolled out the rural emergency option in January 2023. Only 19 hospitals across the U.S. received rural emergency hospital status last year, according to the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

    The majority are in the South, but some are in the Midwest, and hospitals in Nebraska and Florida recently started to explore the option.

    The designation is aimed at a specific population, said George Pink, deputy director of the Sheps Center’s Rural Health Research Program, and that’s rural hospitals on the brink of closure with few people getting inpatient care already.

    Saving rural care

    That was the case for Irwin County Hospital in Ocilla, Georgia, which was the second rural emergency hospital established in the U.S.

    Weeks prior to converting, the hospital received at least $1 million in credit from the county so it could pay employees — money that county board of supervisors chairman Scott Carver doubted he’d see returned.

    “We operate on a $6 million budget for the county, so to extend that kind of line of credit was dangerous on our part to some degree,” he said. “But … we felt like we had to try.”

    Irwin County Hospital became a rural emergency hospital on Feb. 1, 2023. Quentin Whitwell, the hospital’s CEO, said it was an ideal candidate.

    “We’re still finding out what some of the impacts are, given that it’s a new thing,” said Whitwell, who through his company Progressive Health Systems owns and manages six hospitals in the Southeast, most of which are rural emergency hospitals or have applied for the designation. “But the change to a rural emergency hospital has transformed this hospital.”

    A combination of state programs and tax credits, plus the new designation, means the hospital has $4 million in the bank, Carver said. Simply put, the work was worth it to him.

    Traci Harper, a longtime Ocilla resident, isn’t so sure. About a year ago, she rushed her son to the hospital for emergency care for spinal meningitis.

    Because the new designation requires the hospital to transfer patients to larger hospitals within 24 hours, Harper’s son was sent to another in-state facility and three days later ended up getting the care he needed in a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

    “That’s two hours away,” she said. “The whole time I could have taken him there myself, but nobody told me that.”

    ‘Barely surviving’

    Nebraska’s first rural emergency hospital opened in February in a city called Friend.

    Warren Memorial Hospital had reached a breaking point: Federal pandemic relief money had dried up. The city, which owns the hospital, had to start extending lines of credit so hospital employees could get paid. A major street repair project was even delayed, said Jared Chaffin, the hospital’s chief financial officer and one of three co-CEOs.

    “Back in the summer, we were barely surviving,” said Amy Thimm, the hospital’s vice president of clinical services and quality and co-CEO.

    Though residents expressed concerns at a September town hall about closing inpatient services, the importance of having emergency care outweighed other worries.

    “We have farmers and ranchers and people who don’t have the time to drive an hour to get care, so they’ll just go without,” said Ron Te Brink, co-CEO and chief information officer. “Rural health care is so extremely important to a lot of Nebraska communities like ours.”

    The first federal payment, about $270,000, arrived March 5. Chaffin projects the hospital’s revenue will be $6 million this year — more than it’s ever made.

    “That’s just insane, especially for our little hospital here,” he said. “We still have Mount Everest to climb, and we still have so much work ahead of us. The designation alone is not a savior for the hospital — it’s a lifeline.”

    Rural troubles

    That lifeline has proven difficult to hold onto for Alliance Healthcare System in Holly Springs, Mississippi, another one of Whitwell’s hospitals and the fourth facility in the country to convert.

    Months after being approved as a rural emergency hospital in March 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reneged on its decision.

    Hospital CEO Dr. Kenneth Williams told The Associated Press that the government said the hospital isn’t rural because it is less than an hour away from Memphis. A CMS spokesperson said the facility was “inadvertently certified.”

    The hospital has until April to transition back to full service, but many in the community of mostly retirees believe the hospital has closed, Williams said. Patient volume is at a record low. If the federal payments stop coming, Williams isn’t sure the hospital will survive.

    “We might have been closed if we hadn’t (become a rural emergency hospital), so … something had to be done,” he said. “Do I regret all of the issues that for some reason we’ve incurred that the other (hospitals) have not? I don’t know.”

    Though Alliance appears to be one of few facilities that have been hurt by converting to a rural emergency hospital, Pink said it’s too soon to know if the federal designation is a success.

    “If my intuition is correct, it will probably work well for some communities and it may not work well for others,” he said.

    Cochran-McClain said her organization is trying to work with Congress to change regulations that have been a barrier for rural facilities, like closing inpatient behavioral health beds that are already scarce.

    Brock Slabach, the National Rural Health Association’s chief operations officer, said over 30 facilities are interested in converting to rural emergency hospitals this year.

    As Whitwell sees it: “As this program evolves, there will be more people that I think will understand the value.” 

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  • Some rural hospitals shifting to emergency-only care

    Some rural hospitals shifting to emergency-only care

    [ad_1]

    As rural hospitals continue to struggle financially, a new type of hospital is slowly taking root, especially in the Southeast.

    What You Need To Know

    • Rural hospitals that close their inpatient care beds to offer emergency care can get federal funding and higher Medicare reimbursements

    • The federal government’s effort, which started in 2023, is seen as a solution for some struggling rural hospitals

    • It means rural patients might have to travel farther to receive inpatient care

    Rural emergency hospitals receive more than $3 million in federal funding a year and higher Medicare reimbursements in exchange for closing all inpatient beds and providing 24/7 emergency care. While that makes it easier for a hospital to stay open, experts say it doesn’t solve all of the challenges facing rural health care.

    People might have to travel farther for treatments for illnesses that require inpatient stays, like pneumonia or COVID-19. In some of the communities where hospitals have converted to the new designation, residents are confused about what kind of care they can receive. Plus, rural hospitals are hesitant to make the switch, because there’s no margin of error.

    “It’s ironic” that the facilities that might need the most help can’t afford to take the risk, said Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer at the National Rural Health Association.

    She pointed to having to give up certain services and benefits, such as a federal discount program for prescription drugs.

    The government, which classifies hospitals by type, rolled out the rural emergency option in January 2023. Only 19 hospitals across the U.S. received rural emergency hospital status last year, according to the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

    The majority are in the South, but some are in the Midwest, and hospitals in Nebraska and Florida recently started to explore the option.

    The designation is aimed at a specific population, said George Pink, deputy director of the Sheps Center’s Rural Health Research Program, and that’s rural hospitals on the brink of closure with few people getting inpatient care already.

    Saving rural care

    That was the case for Irwin County Hospital in Ocilla, Georgia, which was the second rural emergency hospital established in the U.S.

    Weeks prior to converting, the hospital received at least $1 million in credit from the county so it could pay employees — money that county board of supervisors chairman Scott Carver doubted he’d see returned.

    “We operate on a $6 million budget for the county, so to extend that kind of line of credit was dangerous on our part to some degree,” he said. “But … we felt like we had to try.”

    Irwin County Hospital became a rural emergency hospital on Feb. 1, 2023. Quentin Whitwell, the hospital’s CEO, said it was an ideal candidate.

    “We’re still finding out what some of the impacts are, given that it’s a new thing,” said Whitwell, who through his company Progressive Health Systems owns and manages six hospitals in the Southeast, most of which are rural emergency hospitals or have applied for the designation. “But the change to a rural emergency hospital has transformed this hospital.”

    A combination of state programs and tax credits, plus the new designation, means the hospital has $4 million in the bank, Carver said. Simply put, the work was worth it to him.

    Traci Harper, a longtime Ocilla resident, isn’t so sure. About a year ago, she rushed her son to the hospital for emergency care for spinal meningitis.

    Because the new designation requires the hospital to transfer patients to larger hospitals within 24 hours, Harper’s son was sent to another in-state facility and three days later ended up getting the care he needed in a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

    “That’s two hours away,” she said. “The whole time I could have taken him there myself, but nobody told me that.”

    ‘Barely surviving’

    Nebraska’s first rural emergency hospital opened in February in a city called Friend.

    Warren Memorial Hospital had reached a breaking point: Federal pandemic relief money had dried up. The city, which owns the hospital, had to start extending lines of credit so hospital employees could get paid. A major street repair project was even delayed, said Jared Chaffin, the hospital’s chief financial officer and one of three co-CEOs.

    “Back in the summer, we were barely surviving,” said Amy Thimm, the hospital’s vice president of clinical services and quality and co-CEO.

    Though residents expressed concerns at a September town hall about closing inpatient services, the importance of having emergency care outweighed other worries.

    “We have farmers and ranchers and people who don’t have the time to drive an hour to get care, so they’ll just go without,” said Ron Te Brink, co-CEO and chief information officer. “Rural health care is so extremely important to a lot of Nebraska communities like ours.”

    The first federal payment, about $270,000, arrived March 5. Chaffin projects the hospital’s revenue will be $6 million this year — more than it’s ever made.

    “That’s just insane, especially for our little hospital here,” he said. “We still have Mount Everest to climb, and we still have so much work ahead of us. The designation alone is not a savior for the hospital — it’s a lifeline.”

    Rural troubles

    That lifeline has proven difficult to hold onto for Alliance Healthcare System in Holly Springs, Mississippi, another one of Whitwell’s hospitals and the fourth facility in the country to convert.

    Months after being approved as a rural emergency hospital in March 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reneged on its decision.

    Hospital CEO Dr. Kenneth Williams told The Associated Press that the government said the hospital isn’t rural because it is less than an hour away from Memphis. A CMS spokesperson said the facility was “inadvertently certified.”

    The hospital has until April to transition back to full service, but many in the community of mostly retirees believe the hospital has closed, Williams said. Patient volume is at a record low. If the federal payments stop coming, Williams isn’t sure the hospital will survive.

    “We might have been closed if we hadn’t (become a rural emergency hospital), so … something had to be done,” he said. “Do I regret all of the issues that for some reason we’ve incurred that the other (hospitals) have not? I don’t know.”

    Though Alliance appears to be one of few facilities that have been hurt by converting to a rural emergency hospital, Pink said it’s too soon to know if the federal designation is a success.

    “If my intuition is correct, it will probably work well for some communities and it may not work well for others,” he said.

    Cochran-McClain said her organization is trying to work with Congress to change regulations that have been a barrier for rural facilities, like closing inpatient behavioral health beds that are already scarce.

    Brock Slabach, the National Rural Health Association’s chief operations officer, said over 30 facilities are interested in converting to rural emergency hospitals this year.

    As Whitwell sees it: “As this program evolves, there will be more people that I think will understand the value.” 

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    Associated Press

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